Smultronställe
by MusicLover2010
Summary: He carries stars in his pockets because he knows she fears the dark. Whenever sadness pays her a visit he paints galaxies on the back of her hands.
1. Chapter 1

**Smultronställe**

 **Chapter One**

* * *

 _Just read, enjoy, have a good laugh or two. Have a tear slip here and there. Get mad at cliffhangers or late updates, and review. Even if it's just a one word review~_

* * *

They first met each other when she was five.

He was supposed to be helping the front gates with the crossing souls, but Gaara had came by and heavily persuaded him into coming with him to the world above on his nightly scare. Gaara had just been promoted to demon from being a first year creep monster. And tonight was his first mission.

So there Sasuke was, hiding under the bed of some little girl's bed with Gaara, waiting for the right time to strike. As his role as demon, Gaara was assigned to be the monster under the bed of some girl named Sakura and it was his job to scare her every night. As long as demons and creepers were able to scare the kids and give them nightmares, the more strength the realm of the underworld was. As long as these kids believed in them, they continue to exist.

It had been over an hour since she had climbed into bed and turned off the lights. At this moment, Sasuke was sure that she was close to the tips of slumber. And this was the time to cue their attack.

Just as he and Gaara began to creep out from under her bed, the front door the house slammed open with a bang and profanities began to echo up the stairs. Ducking back into their hiding spot, Sasuke felt the bed creak as the girl began to whimper.

Making eye contact with Gaara, he gave a confused look.

' _Why is she already crying? We haven't even done anything yet.'_

Somewhere downstairs, shattering glass was heard as more profanities were yelled. And then, they grew louder and footsteps began to pound on the stairs.

This simply caused the girl above them to cry even harder, so much that she began to get hiccups. And it was only then that Sasuke understood the situation.

Without much of a thought, Sasuke reached up over the bed for Sakura's bed and tugged her to the floor with a soft thud.. Before Gaara could even stop him, he pulled her underneath the bed with him.

Eyes widening, Gaara nearly shrieked, "Sasuke, what are you doing?"

Throwing his black cloak over the two of them, Sasuke told him to shush. And when the door to the bedroom slammed open, he motioned for Gaara to blend in. Then wrapping the cloak tighter around Sakura he willed the cloak to blend them into the darkness just in the nick of time.

The man yanked off the bed's comforter thinking that the girl was still in bed, but when he found out that she wasn't, another string of profanities left his lips. "Where is the worthless child?"

Dropping to the floor, the man ripped the bedding skirt up and made a blind grab for Sakura. "I know you're under here, come out you little bitch!" As he continued to yell into the darkness, Sasuke's nose wrinkled in disgust how humanly intoxicated the man was. This all but made him pull Sakura closer to him.

Sakura almost screamed out loud when the man's hand finally found her, but her scream was muffled when she realized that the hand was simply just passing through her, as if she was a ghost. Wide eyes filled with unshed tears looked at Sasuke in shock. All he did in return was motioned her to keep quiet.

After a few more attempts, the man finally gave up and left the room with a slam of the door and more profanities.

Once Sasuke was sure that the man had left for good and out of the house, he uncovered them from his cloak and crawled out from under the bed, with Gaara and Sakura close behind him.

* * *

The second time they met, Sasuke had once again sneaked away from the realm and from his duties to explore the world above a little more. Instead this time, his companion was not Gaara but Cerberus. In order to not attract too much attention, Cerberus had taken form in a pure black pitbull. Not like it really mattered though, since anyone that didn't have the gods' blood in them wouldn't have noticed his true form anyways, with his three heads.

Sasuke was on his way back, when they were walking passed an alleyway and Cerberus immediately went crazy.

Pulling him by his spiked collar to calm him down, Sasuke commanded, "Cerberus, down." Hardly ever to disobey his master's commands, Cerberus immediately sat down on his hind legs. But to Sasuke's absolute surprise, the pitbull looked at him, and began to whimper in response.

Raising a single eyebrow at the sudden pouting, Sasuke sighed. "Alright, let's see what is so interesting in this alleyway that you're literally pouting about it."

Before Sasuke could even release his hold on the collar, Cerberus was already heading high speed into the alley, pulling him along. And that was when Sasuke heard the cries and hands hitting against flesh.

Just as the boy's hand was coming down for another hit, Cerberus stood in front of the girl protectively and bared his teeth at the attacker.

"What the…" The boy cursed. Looking back at his little groupie, he asked, "Where the hell did this stray come from?"

At the mention of the word stray, Cerberus growling intensified.

Finally stepping out of the shadows and making his presence known, Sasuke cleared his throat. "I don't think my dog appreciates you calling it a stray."

Rolling his eyes, the boy snickered, "It's a fucking dog, what would it know. Are you offended that I insulted your little _pet_? What are you five?"

"No, but you might be. Aren't you a little too old to be picking on girls?"

"This is none of your business. It's an A B conversation. So stay out of it." Sneering him off, the boy returned his attention back to the trembling girl on the ground. Raising his hand, the boy began to land another hit on the girl.

Eyes narrowing, Sasuke could not believe this filthy thing called a _human_ dared to strike the girl once more after cursing and insulting both him and his dog. Grabbing the boy by the collar, he forced him to make eye contact with him and instantly his eyes turned red, black tomoes swirling. Casting an illusion over him, the boy's eyes widen as he shrank away in fear, stumbling over his own feet and as he clambered back to his little groupie.

With a satisfied smirk slipping onto his lips, Sasuke then eyed his little groupie. Pointing his chin in the other direction, he shooed the group away, which they were more than grateful to do. Running away with their tails in between their legs and bumping into another, Sasuke couldn't help but snort at their lack of masculinity. _Pathetic._

Now turning his attention to the girl that was being comforted by Cerberus, to his surprise, Sasuke crouched down next to her. It was then that he noticed something about her. She had pink hair. And there was only one person that he knew in his lifetime that had pink hair.

It was Sakura.

Motioning Cerberus to back away, he reached out for the girl, only for her to immediately scramble away from his reach.

Sighing, Sasuke said gently, "It's not like we haven't met before."

At the sound of his voice, and the familiarity of it, she looked from behind her hands. Seeing the way her emerald eyes gleamed in recognition, Sasuke reached out for her again. Helping her sit upright, he surveyed the damage that had been done, and it was quite a bit. Scratches decorated down the whole length of arms, and some marring her cheeks as well. Some of them even began to turn a light purple, signs of bruising. Beside her, the entire contents of her backpack were thrown everywhere, some flying away, some drowning in the rain puddles around them.

Taking his cloak off, Sasuke wrapped it tightly around her body. Then reaching into Cerberus's collar, he pulled out a lavender colored gem and pressed it into her hands. Closing his eyes, he focused his energy into it. And ever so slowly, he felt a burst of energy surge from his hands and all over her body.

They watched as fluorescent lavender lines covered her whole body, especially around her injuries. As they slipped and danced across her skin, they took away all of the scratches and bruises, leaving behind clear porcelain skin, as if her injuries never happened at all.

Sakura whipped her head up in surprise, her emerald eyes growing big. At this Sasuke couldn't help but let out a little amused snort.

 _Humans_. They were so easily fazed.

* * *

The third time they met, she decided to sell her soul away to him.

"Why?"

Shrugging her shoulders, Sakura leaned back against the base of her bed. "Just because."

"You do realize that you're actually selling your soul away, right? It's not like you're selling away a piece of junk at a garage sale. This is your soul that we're discussing about." Sasuke told her sternly, arms crossed.

"I know…," she whispered back.

"Then why?"

"Why are you asking so many questions?" Sakura asked hotly. She didn't think selling her soul off would be such a difficult process. Wouldn't they be more than glad to take an unwanted soul? Sighing, she said, "I should have asked Gaara instead. He wouldn't have asked this many questions."

Snorting, Sasuke mumbled, "Like he could do something like this with his status."

"Hey!" she exclaimed, slightly offended by Sasuke's degrading comment. Gaara was still pretty nice to her, despite his occupation. "Don't make fun of him. It's not nice."

"Now that's a first, a human defending their own demon." Brushing off some invisible lint on his shoulders, he then walked over to her and crouched down to her level. Onyx locking with emerald, he looked at her intently. And in those eyes of her, he could see her reasoning.

It was just simply too lonely for her here. Abusive parents and constant bullying. From what he had heard from Gaara, she didn't really have any friends, or even just anyone close to her. And she didn't have anything she cared for either. She was just another being in this world. Her days went by in constant routines and with no purpose. To be honest, news of her wanting to sell her soul wasn't all that new. Gaara had mentioned it a few weeks ago when Sakura first asked him about the process.

Speaking softly, he asked, "Have you considered moving towns or starting a new elsewhere?"

At this suggestion, her emerald eyes widened, but then she looked down at her hands sadly. "No. But it's not like I have anywhere else to go or the funds to do it." Rubbing her hands together in a nervous manner, she asked, "Can't you just take it? I heard that it bounds me to you guys… Like a friendship contract. Honestly you both are the only people that consider me as a human being and treat me like one, ironically… "

Letting a sigh slip past his lips, he ran a hand down the back of his neck, a little bit frustrated. "Friendships aren't meant to be bought Sakura. Also, it's not as easy as it sounds. Selling your soul off will change the course of your entire afterlife."

"There's nothing for me in the afterlife anyways, so it doesn't matter."

"Are you sure about that?"

"No, but I don't have much hope anyways." Sakura said sadly.

Sighing, yet again, Sasuke reached inside his cloak and pulled out a black scroll. He then sat down next to her by her bed, shoulder to shoulder, and handed her pen out of thin air. Unrolling the contract, he laid it out in front of her. With a wave of his hand, he said, "Alright. Selling of a soul it is."

.

Even long after they had sealed the deal and Sakura had officially signed away her soul, Sasuke continued to stay with her. Although he was never much of a talker or liked small talk, he slowly found out that the more she talked, the more he enjoyed her company. It was strange, to find a sense of warm and comfort that was her. And as she continued to talk, he was pleased to see the light return back into her eyes and her cheeks flushed with color. But from time to time though, she would share with him her darkness. With those stories, the rosette tried hard to keep her tears at bay, but they came regardless. He shocked himself at how fast his fingers came to her face and wiped them away before they could even fall onto her cheeks. It was like his hands had a mind of their own. Sasuke has never done something like that before, he was surprised that his body even knew _how_ to comfort.

So, there he sat at the base of her bed, his back against the sheets, with her head laid against his shoulder. After what was her fifth crying session, her body had called it quits. Her breathing had even out, although a little labored due to her stuffed nose. He honestly didn't anticipate something like this to happen, but it just kind of did. Usually selling of a soul was a pretty quick process, ten minutes tops. Yet, here he was still here, in her room, hours later. Sasuke didn't mind though. This was a nice escape from his world.

Looking out the window of her bedroom, Sasuke saw that the sun was already halfway gone. Taking that as a sign for him to leave, he carefully cradled her head in his hand and slipped another underneath her knees. He then carried her to her bed and tucked her in, making sure that she was secure and warm. Standing up, he took one last glance at her, taking her in. Then reaching into his pocket, he pulled out crystal pendant. There in the palm of his hand was her soul, glowing and swirling around in the sphere. Just like her eyes, her soul was a beautiful shade of jade.

It was then, at that moment, he promised to protect her at all cost. For without a soul, she couldn't enter into the afterlife realm. And a soul like her didn't deserve to go to hell. Closing his hand tightly around the pendant, he promised he would let her live as long as she could and to finally enjoy her life to the fullest.

* * *

As promised, Sasuke looked over her in secret. And sometimes when he couldn't watch over her himself, he would send Gaara to do so. But he only interfered when necessary. He didn't want to attract too much attention to the girl. And today was one of those days.

He was in the main hall, listening to dead souls and their confessions and requests for redemption. This was his fifty sixth soul and he wasn't really paying much attention anymore. Days like this just dragged on, even more slow than usual. Sighing, he took a quick glance at the file of the soul in his hands. _Early death, 23. Cause of death, DUI. Had passengers with him but he was the only causality. Had a history of minor crimes done on campus, vandalism and under age drinking for a couple years._

"You're here to request for a recreation, correct."

"Yes, my lord. I've thought deeply about my actions and..."

"Request granted." Sasuke announced without much further explanation. Signing it off with a swipe of his pen, he motioned for the soul to go.

The soul had his mouth drop open in shock, but he wasn't the only one. The night guard next to him, holding the files, looked at him with wide eyes. Sasuke was never one to give grants to the soul's requests this easily. Ever since he came into reign, he ruled strictly. Souls were lucky if he granted even one of them a request. Most days, the number of souls that he granted was zero. But today, this was the third one to be granted.

Tripping over his legs to bow down low to the ground, words of gratitude spilled from his lips as the soul thanked the lord.

With a wave of his hand, he told the guards on the floor to take the soul away. "Alright, take..." And it was then, that he heard his name being called out in such a desperate manner and familiar tone, that he froze mid sentence to the shock of everyone in the room. Their lord was never one to falter in anything he did, he was a confident man and he was always sure in his ways. This sudden hesitation was not expected.

But he paid no attention to anyone else on the room. He focused on the voice that was calling out to him. Souls of all sorts, both in his realm and the world above always called out for him, for help or whatever it was. He usually tuned them out because it was too many and it got annoying very fast. This was an exception though.

" _Please... someone, help me... Please... make it stop..."_

Shutting everything else out, Sasuke focused harder on the voice. It was so strikingly familiar. As he continued to hear out the cries, the crystal pendant in his pocket, burned hotter with each passing second. Confused, he reached into his pocket and pulled it out. There in the center of his palm was Sakura's soul, burning and glowing fluorescently, flickering like an angry wildfire.

" _Sasuke!"_ His head snapped up immediately at the cry of his name and that was when everything clicked. And in an instant, he disappeared from sight.

.

Over the years, since the day that she sold her soul to him, Sakura had seen him a couple more times. Each time, it was him coming to her rescue as usual. But then, within the past year, she had gotten a boyfriend and everything was pretty much wonderful. Until recently.

Sasori was everything she could ask for. He entered into her life just at the right time and saved her from her darkness at the time. He was kind and treated her in ways that she didn't know that she should have been treated. He made her feel special, very special. He gave her the love that she was missing in life and he gave her hope for the future. Being with him everyday, all day was all that she ever wanted.

But that all changed after they came past their one year mark. Slowly, the real Sasori came out and it terrified her. It started out with little things that she could deal with and then slowly he turned into an unstoppable monster. She tried to escape this harsh reality of hers again but it was truly impossible this time around. Sakura couldn't find the light at the tunnel anymore. She should have seen the signs earlier on in their relationship. Back then she was naive, young and in love; blinded by this so called love. She mistook his jealousy and anger when she hung out with her girlfriends as just him being over protective. He would nag at her at first, but then when he found out that sometimes her guy friends would hand out with him, he began the yelling and shouting. And sometimes, he would attack her, not physically yet, but emotionally.

After all those years of piecing herself but together and being able to stand on her feet again, just a couple screams from him had her falling apart again. He took away the confidence that she had, the faith that she held for herself and stabbed self doubt back into her body. His words made her even more confused that she was before. _Was she even worth it?_

And then is became physical when she began to deny things from him. That was when the true monster came out.

As a coffee cup filled to the brink with hot liquid came crashing into the wall to the left of her, Sakura scrambled backwards, screaming, "Sasori, stop it! Get a hold of yourself."

" _Get a hold of myself?_ " He sneered back at her, nostrils flaring and his face turning bright red. " _Who are you,_ to tell me to get a hold of myself. _Who?!_ "

As his uncontrollable anger raged on, Sasori continued to smash things to the ground, sometimes even aiming it at her.

"Sasori, please! You don't need to do this. You're being ridiculous about such a small thing."

"Shut up woman. I have every right to be angry. You, who dare to disobey me and not follow my requests, you're despicable!"

Snapping her head up, tears filling in her eyes, she pointed a single finger at him, yelling, "Okay, first off. It is my body, so I have every right to decide what I want to do. You, on the other hand, have no right to force me into anything I am not comfortable with! We've discussed this many, many times before."

At this point, they were both face to face, breathing hard from their yelling matches. For a second, Sakura felt exhilarating. She had never done this before. For once, she finally fought back. She didn't know where the courage suddenly came from but she knew that she was sick and tired of this so called relationship of theirs and she wanted out. But that wonderful feeling was quick to dissipate as he looked down at her through narrowed eyes and jaws clenched. Then what happened next happened all too quick.

In one moment she was standing upright, facing him and then in the next, she was on the ground, cheek stinging. Before she could even fully register what had actually happened, the next hit came, followed by another. First, they were hard slaps and then they became full on punches. As he landed another particularly mean punch to her stomach, her body was thrown back against the wall, knocking her head in the process. The world around her spun as a metallic copper taste filled her mouth. Her body was so numb that she didn't even notice that he continued to pound his fists into her.

When she did come around again, she saw that Sasori had left her crumpled form on the floor and went into the kitchen, rummaging for something. In this moment, Sakura knew that this was only chance to escape. Emerald eyes moved to their front door but she found that it was bolt shut and she didn't have the keys anymore. Sasori has taken them away from her for awhile now. Regardless, she still tried to push herself up, hands pushing against the ground onto broken glass shards. They pierced into her palm but she felt nothing. The only thing on her mind was to get to the front door or a window, because maybe if she screamed loud enough, someone would hear her. With shaky legs, she managed to make it halfway to the living room window when she was yanked back forcefully by her hair.

Screaming, Sakura tried to force him away from her, but it was no use, Sasori was stronger than her, in every aspect. She blocked his hits a much as she could but he would always find another opening elsewhere to strike. And it was during one of these hits that she took notice of two things. One, there was a gleaming object in his hands. Second, she saw a dark shadow lurking in the corner of the room, holding a gold stopwatch in his hands.

By the time she returned her attention back to Sasori, it was a bit to late, he had already made a big gash on the side of her arm. Position the kitchen knife above him again, he made another aim, making her scream in horror. Was this it? Was this really how she was going to die?

Sobbing, she screamed out again for help, her throat hoarse. " _Please... someone, help me... Please... make it stop!"_ Tears blurring her vision, she attempted to dodge another swing of his, only to have her head slammed against the floor instead.

"If you would have obeyed me, sweetheart. None of this would have had to happen." Sasori told her sickeningly as he drew the edge of the knife across the plane of her skin, leaving a bloody trail behind. "It was nice meeting you, Sakura…" and Sasori moved to make his final move.

And this was when she knew it was the end. It was truly the end.

Bracing herself for the pain, she made one last desperate call out in her head, " _Sasuke!"_

A rush of cold air crawled across her skin and a loud roar reached her ringing ears. A small whimper slipped past her lips when she felt the sharpness of the knife pierce into her skin. Sakura waited for the pain to intensify, but it never came. It felt like a small papercut.

Was she already dead? Was that why the pain felt like nothing? It would make a lot more sense.

Upon opening her eyes, she was prepared to face the pits of hell but she was surprised to see that she was still in the shambles of what she called her living room. What caught her by surprise a lot more was the fact that someone in a dark, billowing cloak had Sasori pushed up against the wall by his neck.

.

Sasuke felt an unbelievable amount of rage curse through his veins.

How dare this _filthy_ thing cause harm to an innocent woman as such. It was revolting.

Gripping the redhead's throat even harder, Sasuke glared at the man. "Men like you deserve to burn in the pits of hell."

"Who the fuck are you?" Sasori spit out through labored breaths. Clenching his teeth, he bit out, "Put me down right this instant, you bastard!"

"You are not worthy enough to know of _who_ I am." Sasuke returned, grip tightening ever so slightly. Eyes bleeding red, Sasuke locked eyes with the crazed man in front of him and in an instant, the redhead fell to a crumpled lump onto the floor. It was time that he experienced his own horrors.

Then turning around swiftly, he came to Sakura's aid. Shifting her onto her back and into his arms, he carefully slipped his hands underneath her head for support. As he did so, he felt the true blunt of the damage. Her pink locks were stained and matted red from her own blood. From her face to her legs, there was an endless amount of cuts and bruises. Pools of blood where everywhere in the room but the most at her left side, and it was growing at an alarming rate. Turning her head so that he could make eye contact with her, Sasuke was confused to see a small smile decorating her pale lips.

"You're on the verge of death and you're smiling. Have you gone insane?"

Lips trembling, she mumbled quietly, "...T-thank you…"

"Hn, I know." He told her with a roll of his eyes. Hastily surveying the damage once more, he allowed her to rest against his body as he dug around his pocket for the lavender gem. Quickly pushing it into her bloody palm, he forced the gem to activate its healing powers. He watched with a tight heart as the fluorescent lines covered her body and patched up all the damage that was done.

As he waited for the gem to do its work, he felt a dark presence beside him, without looking up he knew who exactly it was. "Speak," he commanded.

"My lord, I have received her death note and was here to collect her but…, it seems like that it is no longer possible…"

"And?" Sasuke questioned harshly. "Is there a problem with my interference?"

"..." The Grim Reaper kept mum.

With a wave of his hand, Sasuke ordered, "File it as a lost soul report. Have it first thing on my desk tomorrow morning, I will sign off on it."

Bowing, the Grim Reaper bid him goodbye and disappeared.

During his exchange with Grim Reaper, the gem was already more than halfway done with its healing process and Sakura had fallen asleep his arms. Seeing how her chest rose up and down steadily, he breathed out heavily. Then wrapping his arms around her body, he pulled her up close to him.

He was lucky this time too that he made it, especially with how the Grim Reaper was already present with her death note. She would have truly died this time had he not interfered. Sighing yet again, he was going to deal with a major headache of having to sign off a lost soul. Reasons and evidence for why a soul was not collected was going to be needed. And to complicate things even further, she didn't even have a soul to be collected to begin with. This is going to be a mess, Sasuke can just feel it. But after taking a glance at her sleeping form, safe and sound, he decided that it would be worth it.

It was his promise after all.

* * *

After her near death experience, Sakura had moved away from that wretched town, away from her hunting past. And it was the best decision that she had ever made. With nothing but thirty dollars in her pocket and a backpack of some of her things, she hailed down a cab to take her away to what would now be her home.

Here in this new town, she was able to rediscover herself and who she was. It was hard at first. Things like this were never easy. She only had herself to depend on. But slowly, she picked up all the pieces that was her and fixed herself back together. Now, a couple years forward, she was in her third year of college, working as a medical assistant, and living in a rather decent part of town. She made many new friends and her neighbors where exceptionally kind hearted. Just in general, the people here were nicer.

Ever since that day, she hadn't seen Sasuke since. Gaara still made his schedule visits, but she was seeing less of him lately. But she guess today was an exception, because as she passed by the mirror placed in the living room of her place, Sakura nearly had a heart attack. Because written in blood in scratchy letters was ' _Remember appointment with Advisor at 3pm.'_

Hands flying to her chest, trying to calm her erratic heartbeat, Sakura exclaimed, "Gaara! How many times have I told you to use the dry erase markers instead of some poor chicken's blood. You don't have to kill one every time to remind me."

Slinking out of the dark corner in her room, he smiled devilishly, "Oh, but that ruins the fun."

"When I die, I'm going to have a dozen chicken souls out to get me because you killed them in my name."

Shrugging his shoulders, Gaara said, "Maybe."

Handing him some cleaning supplies, Sakura pouted, "Can you at least clean up the mess you've made. I do appreciate your help in trying to keep me organize with my schedule. But," she paused briefly as she dug into her bag for another dry erase marker and handed it to him. "Next time, don't kill another chicken."

"No promises."

After making sure that he was going to clean up the bloody mess that he made, Sakura slipped on her shoe and made it out the door, not before yelling out, "I'll be back by 5 if you're still here."

.

"Sakura's usual?" One of the barista asked.

"Oh, you know it." Momo answered with a smile.

"Did you hear?"

"Hmm, what about it?"

"She has an meeting with her advisor soon for a letter of recommendation I think."

"Oh, really?" Momo raised a single eyebrow at her co-worker. Then taking a glance at the pink haired girl standing over in the corning, gnawing on her bottom lip and tapping her feet anxiously against the tiled floors. "Well then, looks like she needs a shot of charisma in her latte today."

Sharing a knowing smile with her coworker, Momo waved her hands over the steaming cup, whispering a short spell. Then closing it with the lid, she called out, "One ice latte, extra cream!"

Shuffling up to get her a drink, Sakura mumbled a quick thank you. Just before she left the counter though, Momo gave her a wink and whispered, "Good luck!"

Startled, Sakura froze for a moment and stared at her, lips a little parted. Then gathering herself together, she asked, "How did you know?"

""Tis the season, sweetheart."

Laughing lightly, Sakura nodded in understanding. Of course the coffee shop workers would know. They probably served about a dozen students before her, coming here for their daily fix of caffeine to get rid of the nerves. As she turned to leave though, she quickly dropped a couple singles into the tip jar. "Thank you again."

.

Not being able to help herself, as she left the advisor's building and walked down the front steps, Sakura did a little happy dance attracting some weird stares from the other students. It was turning out to be a great day. Her advisor agreed to writing her a recommendation and that was almost a guarantee placement into the program as she was an alumnae. Now that that weight has been lifted from her shoulders, she could actually enjoy the rest of her evening.

Pulling her phone out of her pocket, she scrolled through her contact list and pressed call. And in seconds of the phone ringing, the other person picked up, "So how did you do?"

"Why hello to you too," Sakura laughed.

"Alright, hello to you too Forehead." Sakura could just imagine her gorgeous best friend rolling those pretty blue eyes of hers. "Now answer my question."

"So impatient. But anyways, I passed. She's going to write me a letter of recommendation!"

"That's great, Sakura! See, I told you! You didn't even have to worry about a thing." Ino shouted back at her excitedly and in a told-you-so tone. "Honestly, I think you're like her favorite student. Secretly, somewhere, deep in that cold heart of hers, there's a little room for you. I heard that she doesn't even allow students to meet with her in person in regards to her letter recommendation. She just sends out a shit ton of emails saying no."

"That's a little exaggerated." Sakura couldn't help but roll her eyes at her friend's response. Ino liked to never tell things as it is but rather make it so over the top.

"Okay, maybe just a tiny bit. Anyways, this calls for a celebration Forehead!"

"You're always making an excuse to go out drinking."

"Oh, you know me so well love. But I know this new bar that just opened down…"

As Ino continued to ramble on and decide on plans for the night, Sakura began to tune her out. Ino had a tendency to talk for a really _long_ time. Once she tune her out completely, Sakura took a moment to take in the nice, autumn weather. They were well into the third week of the new season but it was only in the past couple of days that the weather actually cooled down. And as it got closer to the end of the day, the temperature dropped significantly. After having experience this a couple times now, Sakura thought that she would have known better and packed some extra layers.

A cold breeze slipped past her, blowing her hair all into her face. As she pushed her pink locks back and away from her face, she heard the distinct sound of heels against the pavement behind her. Glancing around, she saw that it was just another one of her classmates, who she bid goodbye to earlier as they both left the building. Guess the girl lived in the same area as she did, which wasn't all that surprising as many of the students had an apartment near her complex. They had the best rent and was the shortest walking distance to campus.

She felt her nose began to burn as the cool wind nipped at her cheeks. Sniffling, she pulled her sleeves down and wiped her nose. As she did so, Sakura felt an uncomfortable chill travel down her spine. Immediately she stopped and turned on her heel, but all that was there was the same classmate walking down the same street as she did. Feeling unsteady, Sakura pulled on the sleeves of shirt more and began to quicken her pace. She was probably being paranoid but for some reason she felt unsafe all of sudden, like something was out to get it.

The more she increased her speed, the more sweaty her palms got. At one point, she nearly dropped her phone, startling Ino on the other line.

"Hey, Forehead, are you okay? You sound a little out of breath…"

Subtly, Sakura held the phone closed to her mouth and cupped it, whispering, "I… I think someone is following me…"

"What?" Ino shouted, to which Sakura hushed her immediately. "Wait, what? Is there actually someone or are you just being paranoid?"

"I don't know, maybe a little of both?" Sakura frowned as she came to a stop at a crosswalk. The traffic light across the street was blinking red, telling her to stop.

Tapping her foot a little impatiently, Sakura took a glance around the area. Then looking at her watch, she was a little shock to find that it was well past five. What also shocked her was that it was strange that this area of the town was so vacant. Usually at this hour, students were all done with classes and where out and about, eating and hanging out. Just as the light across the street flashed the walking sign, she heard a click behind her.

At this moment, Sakura decided to take a look over her shoulder and it was a mistake.

.

Naruto's boisterous voice echoed against the tiled floors as they walked down the corridor. Once they reached the end, the guards opened the grand double doors for them, leading in the private meeting area. One by one they walked into the room, and as each one of them passed the threshold, the flickering of the energy of their powers fizzled out, making it deafeningly quiet. They had to have to come up with this restriction a couple thousand years back when Naruto and Sasuke got into a pretty heated argument and nearly destroyed the whole castle. In order to prevent anything like that to happen again, they had Tsuande put a chakra blocking seal on the room.

This was one of the few times in the year that Sasuke actually stepped foot in Naruto's realm. Sasuke only came when it was necessary, or else if he had a choice he wouldn't have came at all. As the Big Three, they oversaw many of the activities.

But most of the time, since it was Naruto spearheading all of the discussions, they often got sidetracked, which led to these meetings being hours upon hours long. It was about nine hours in that the the slacking began.

"So Sasuke, " Naruto began with a snarky smile, blue eyes gleaming with mischief.

And that this, Sasuke couldn't help but openly groan.

"I heard that you've been slacking on your job." Naruto questioned. "I heard that there's a Lost Soul floating around, first one of the century."

"Shut up."

"Oh!" The blonde exclaimed delightfully. "So, there is one!" Wiggling his brows, Naruto smiled, "Is it a _girl_? Is that why?" At the way that the tips of Sasuke burned red, Naruto roared in laughter, slapping his hands on his knees. "Oh my, have our dark king fallen in love?"

"That's enough, Dobe."

"Is it true then, since you're not denying it."

Shaking his head, Sasuke made his move to head out of the room first, ignoring the bickering of the other two gods behind him. Immediately as he past the threshold, Sasuke faltered in his steps. Alarmed, Sasuke searched out for Sakura's presence, but he felt nothing.

"Yo, Sasuke… are you okay?" He heard Naruto called out to him, but Sasuke didn't reply.

And then he tried to contact Gaara, but he didn't get an answer back. Just as he was about to remove his block on the request of voices to find her, he felt it. The moment he did, Sasuke teleported out of the realm without another word.

.

When Sakura had come around to her senses again, she felt incredibly numb. Her eyes felt heavy and she could barely keep them open. Groaning, she felt cold as the cool breeze danced across her skin but also warm as she felt something wet surrounded her. Each time she tried to move, her body wouldn't respond. Tiredly, Sakura closed her eyes again. Breathing heavily, she tried one more time to move her body, any part of it, but it was to no avail. With eyes half closed, she could see the outline of a dark figure heading her way. And then somewhere in the corner of her eyes, she saw her broken phone, that skidded across the asphalt flashing. Returning her eyes back to the figure coming towards her, she spotted a white note card in his hands.

The figure then approached her and laid a single hand on her arm. "I'm afraid that it's time. Sakura Haruno your time..."

Confused, Sakura couldn't put together what the figure was telling her. Every other word of his was barely audible as she felt the hands of darkness come for her, eyes becoming heavier with every second. Then when she couldn't keep them open any longer, she allowed herself to succumb to the darkness.

The second time that she came around, she was jostled awake. Unlike the first time, Sakura was able to distinguish her surrounds much faster and clearer. Numbness that she had felt earlier has disappeared. She felted liberated. She felt so at ease. This was the most peaceful she has been in a long time. Glancing around her, she found that she was on a tiny rowing boat filled with other people. There was a family bundled in the furthermost area of the boat, four of them in total. The parents held a protective hold over they're two kids in between them, eyes shaking with fear. Next to them was an old man, sitting down and staring at nothing in particular. Then sitting directly across from her was another family. This time a set of siblings, two brothers and their younger sister. The girl was crying hysterically while the brothers looked away from her, each one facing the opposite direction. And lastly, at the front of the boat was the familiar dark figure that she saw last before she went to sleep. He was steadily rowing the boat further down a river of some sort.

The more they traveled down the river, the colder it got as chilling shivers traveled down the back of her spine. The ominous sense that was overcoming her body was not welcoming at all. And it all made sense when ear-splitting and bone-shaking screams reached them. Eye widening, Sakura couldn't believe what was before her eyes. There were so many boats, like that one that she was sitting, littering the entirety of the river. And as they docked, guards in billowing cloaks practically man-handled some of them onto shore, pushing them roughly forward. She watched as they filed each person into a different lines; sometimes even breaking families apart. Tears came to her eyes as she watched a mother and son be ripped apart from each other, the wailing and screaming deafening. And before she knew it, it was her turn.

One by one, each of the passengers were plucked from their spot and hustled ashore. Her heart clenched as the the set of siblings were harshly separated. The brothers fought and screamed profanities at the guards when they yanked their younger sister away from them.

"No! Fucking give her back! You can't fucking take her!" The oldest one wrestled against the tight hold that he was in as he tried to reach out to grasp her back. But he thrashed even harder when the guard shoved the girl to the ground, hard. "Hey! Watch your filthy hands! She's a fucking girl, what the hell."

The more the brothers struggled, the harsher they inflicted pain on the girl, continuously shoving her and causing her to stumble over her feet. Her hands and feets were all bruised up and scraped mercilessly. Her face was all blotchy and red from the crying that she was doing. When she tried to reach out for her brother, one of the guards began to rise his hands at her to Sakura's absolute astonishment. At this point, her body acted on her own before her mind could even register it.

Sakura pushed her way through the crowd and rushed forward. Slipping in front of the girl just in the nick of time, she held her arms out in front of the girl, in a protective stance. She watched as the guard falter in his movement, but not before narrowing his beady eyes down on her. Then in a cold tone, he advised, "I wouldn't do that if I were you, Lost One."

Her eyebrows came together in confusion. ' _Lost One?'_

"Move, this is not of your business."

"No," Sakura stated shakingly. She knew what was going to happen if she didn't move, but for some strange reason Sakura felt compelled to protect this girl. She needed to.

"I said move," he growled out at her.

"And I said no."

Then not more than a second later, Sakura felt her head snap to the side, her left cheek burning furiously. When he saw that she wasn't going to move, she saw him raise his hand again to strike. In the distance, she heard the loud growling and barking of an animal of some sorts, but for some strange reason, it sounded so familiar to her ears, as if she had heard it before. During the time that she was contemplating over this, the guard struck his hand down on her again, then again. As time continued to pass by the guard continued to pummel her into the ground with his fist and she automatically curled up into a ball, something that her body knew how to do on autopilot now, thanks to Sasori. With each hit, the cries of the animal roared even louder to a point that it was shaking the ground.

"Kai, I think that's enough." She heard a guard nearby whisper. "Cerberus is going to rampage, if you don't."

"Like that mutt knows anything."

"But it will alarm the King." The guard added, his tone laced with concern.

"As it _should_."

Immediately the the tone that was made up of so much authority and ice made everything around them freeze. Sakura listened as a deafening silence come over the entire area. It was so quiet that only her heavy and pained, labored breathing was heard.

Taking a peek through her messed up locks, Sakura watched as the crowd part ways for him. The guard that had dared laid hands on them was kneeling on the ground, visibly trembling. Then in the distance, she could barely make out a set of eye reds staring at her. But below each set of eyes was a wolfish grin, and that was when she knew why he sounded so familiar; Cerberus. At that sudden realization, Sakura couldn't help but smile a little. That pupper was always out to her rescue.

Her attention was pulled back to the situation at hand though, when the sound of footsteps against the gravel reached her ears. Then before she knew it, she felt a pair of hands wrap themselves around her forearms and pull her up. For a moment, they stood still like that, to make sure that she was stable on her feet. Then daringly, Sakura tilted her face upwards to make eye contact with her savior.

The moment emerald clashes with onyx, Sakura could barely suppress the gasp that slipped past her lips. As her eyes widen in realization, she watched as his lips curled up into a small smirk.

"Welcome to my home, Sakura."

* * *

 **{A/N}:** And that's a wrap, folks. For the first chapter that is. Hope you guys liked this massive first chapter. This has been in the works for a couple of months now, and I'm finally satisfied for the most part to post it. This is my version of Hades/Persephone retold. Please excuse me for any errors or mistakes that I happened to miss. Also I have quite a few other works that I'm going to be posting in the near future, as well as updating current on-going fics.

Anyways, I'm excited to know what you guys thought! Leave a review down below and let me know!


	2. Chapter 2

**Smultronställe**

 **Chapter Two**

* * *

 _Just read, enjoy, have a good laugh or two. Have a tear slip here and there. Get mad at cliffhangers or late updates, and review. Even if it's just a one word review~_

* * *

He was gone for just a mere couple of hours and without his presence the realm couldn't just function properly apparently. When he was off to the summit meeting of the Big Three, he didn't expect to come out and find that Sakura had crossed the gates.

Sasuke rarely got nervous about anything, but for some reason he couldn't stop his heart from thundering in his chest as his palms grew clammy at his sides. Even at where he was, he could hear Cerberus's loud barks and growls echoing throughout the realm, even more so than normal. Briskly, he made his way towards the front gates. When he crossed into the area, he knew something was up the moment the guards at the borders froze at his presence. Not even bothering to acknowledge their bows, Sasuke brushed passed them and headed towards the commotion near the river bank. The sight that he came to meet with had his blood boiling.

There laying on the ground, cowering in fear, was none other than Sakura herself. His onyx eyes immediately narrowed in on the guard that dared laid his hands on her. He watched as another guard reached out to him, whispering something in his ear. But even at his distance, he heard the words that were exchanged between them.

"Kai, I think that's _enough_. Cerberus is going to go on rampage, if you don't."

"Like that _mutt_ knows anything."

Sasuke eyes narrowed even further at the guard's offensive comment towards his loyal pet. Unknowingly, his fists began to clenched at his side as he continued his way towards them. He couldn't believe that this lowly _guard_ had the audacity to lay his hands on Sakura first of all. And then comment slurs on Cerberus. That gained him two strikes already.

"But it will alarm the King."

"As it _should_." Sasuke said icily as he made his presence known as he came up behind them to their absolute astonishment, cutting through the tension in the air.

Immediately, the guards snapped their mouths shut and went into position, bowing lowly at him. But after a second passed, Kai went down on one knee, kneeling at his feet, trembling. Sasuke paid no heed to him though, he would deal with that _bastard_ later. Brushing pass everyone, he came up to Sakura and bent down towards her curled up body. Gently, he picked her up off of the ground and gave her body a quick once over as he made sure that she was stable to stand on her own two feet. As he did so, he watched as her head tilt up at him slowly. Then her emerald eyes widen in shock as she saw who he was and a gasp slipping past her lips.

At this, Sasuke couldn't help but smirk in response, even in their current situation. He was quite used to getting this response from people when they saw him, but coming from her, it was simply adorable.

"Welcome to my home, Sakura."

He watched as she stood there dumbfounded, slowly piecing together the pieces and connecting the dots. As he allowed her to do so, the Grim Reaper that he had encountered with from before, a few years back, came to his side. The Grim Reaper bowed before him quickly before coming to his side, whispering, "... Due to some past circumstances, my Lord…. She is a _Lost Soul_ , therefore she can not cross…"

Sasuke's brows furrowed, his lips pulling into a thin line. "She will cross. That is not a question."

"But, my Lord, she has _no soul_."

"And that will not be a problem." Sasuke commented sternly. Raising a single brow at the Grim Reaper, he asked quizzingly, "Will it?"

"..."

"Grant her access for the time being. I will handle the rest."

"Yes, my Lord." The Grim Reaper replied, bowing his head at his dismissal.

Sasuke noticed how he lingered around for a moment longer than necessary. And Sasuke definitely did not miss the way that he took a side glance at Sakura before moving away to one of the guards and handing them a white card. But his attention was quick to be averted as beside him, a soft voice mumbled, "Was this why you were so against it?"

Turning to face her, Sasuke simply rested a hand on her back and led her away from the mumbling crowd and wondering eyes. As they walked further away from the crowd and the river, he bent down next to her ear, whispering, "I'll tell you another time."

And just like that, it was the end of that conversation.

.

They had been walking for a while now, and neither of them have spoken at all during their trip. Sasuke was leading the way while Sakura followed closely behind. At first, she found herself struggling to catch up to him and his pace. After a while though, Sasuke began to take notice of her strained effort, and immediately felt guilty, thus slowly his pace down by a notch. At one point, Sasuke decided that she was struggling a little too much for his liking, so he reached out for her and held her by her elbows, much to her surprise. Sakura felt her heart jump to her throat when she felt his other hand settle at the base of her back as he led her forward. His warm hold would sometimes tighten when they had to maneuver around a rough patch of the terrain, and this simply made her blush even harder.

After feeling like as if her heart could explode any time now from their close contact, she was glad to see the outline of the castle come into view. As they came up to the entrance, Sasuke dropped his hands from her. She watched as two guards posted out front bowed to them in greeting, before opening the tall metal gates for them to pass. And as they did, Sakura could barely maintain the gasp that left her lips. It was something that she found herself doing a lot of in this place. But she just couldn't help herself, everything her was just… so beautiful and ethereal.

It definitely wasn't what she had expected.

The castle itself blended in seamlessly with the darkness; if one didn't look for it hard enough, they surely would have missed it. While it held every aspect of grandre of a fairytale castle straight from a children's book, it was chillingly gorgeous. The gleam that came from the castle showed that obsidian and black diamond made up the entirety of the castle, giving a dark elegance to it that she would only expect from Sasuke himself. Almost invisible to the eye, Sakura saw specks of gold woven into the structure. And that was only one small part of the details.

As they approached the front doors, which were massive, even more so than the front gates, she truly saw the detailed work engraved into the manor. Intricate swirls and lines formed exquisite designs, laced with gold. The more she saw the castle, the more it surprised her.

She was so memorized with the beauty of the place that she didn't even notice when they passed the threshold. When they did though, the first thing that she noticed was the gigantic, black fluff balls roaming around in the lobby. Completely taken aback at how something so cute could exist in a place like this, she completely disregarded the alarmed shouts and exclaims all around her as she walked forward to one of them and pulled it to her chest. Sakura couldn't help but giggle softly as it placed a wet kiss on her face as the other ones surrounded her, pawing for her attention as well. As this all unfolded, Sakura then began to noticed how quiet the room had gotten.

Running her hands through their thick fur, she looked up at Sasuke with a small smile. "You certainly have a thing for pets don't you?"

His strained face morphed from what was a look of alarm back to his neutral facade. Clearing his throat, he mumbled, "They're not exactly pets."

"If they're not pets, then what are they?" She questioned, amusement lacing her words as she continued to pet one of them who had made itself right at home in her lap.

"Hellhounds. And they don't normally look this… approachable…"

"Oh, you're exaggerating."

Beside her, one of the maids spoke up timidly. "It is true, Miss. They're not normally like this."

"Well whatever it is, I think they're stinking cute." Making a cute face at one of them as she squished it's cheeks together in her palm, she cooed, "Aren't you?"

Yet, again, to everyone's surprise the hellhound barked back her in response, tail wagging excitedly.

.

It was such a domestic sight, that Sasuke didn't know how to feel about it. Sakura continued to play around with the hellhounds as if they were _puppies._ Not to mention, his hellhounds hardly ever acted like within his presence, and he knew that they certainly never acted like this around anyone else. As he continued to look on over them, he began to notice a red patch growing in size on the back of her shoulder. Alarmed, he beckoned one of the maids over, whispering orders to her immediately.

Then approaching her, Sasuke said, "Sakura, let's go."

Looking up at him, her knows knitted together in confusion at his sudden request. But regardless, she bid each one of the hellhounds goodbye and stood up, following him out of the foyer.

It was only when they left the foyer completely and began walking down a separate corridor, that Sasuke asked her, "Why didn't you tell me about the injury behind your head, earlier?"

"Huh?" Sakura stared at him puzzled. She was even more so, when he stopped in his track and turned around to face her.

Walking up to her until they were feet to feet, Sasuke reached behind her and brushed his fingers across the nape of her neck. As he did this, he surely didn't miss the way that she shrunk back in fear. To this reaction, Sasuke couldn't help but feel anger towards a certain red head that caused her to feel this way. And he was going to be looking forward to that redhead's time of punishment when the time comes.

Not saying a word, he held his fingers up to her face, dripping in blood.

Gasping, Sakura's hand flew up to the back of head head. Her emerald eyes were wide for a second before a sense of realization dawned upon her. "Oh," she began. "That's probably the reason why I blacked out earlier…"

Shaking his head in disapproval, Sasuke began walking down the corridor again. "You need to be more aware about things like this Sakura."

"I know…"

"Come on," he told her, motioning her to follow him. "I know you have a lot of questions and other things on your head, but we need to heal and clean you up first." As they reached the end of the hall, he stopped and turned to face her again. With a tilt of his, he said, "There'll be a few maids on the other side who will be of your assistance. They will help you with everything as you see need. Do not be afraid, Sakura. You are a guest here. And you are to be treated like one."

Sakura simply nodded her head once in response.

"I've had them prepare a small selection of clothes for you to choose from." He added. Then a little more bashful, to her surprised, he said while looking away. "I wasn't sure what would suit your taste, so hopefully you find something you like…"

Unable to keep her amusement to herself, a small smiled slipped onto her face. Softly, she replied, "I'm sure I'll find something that I'll like. I'm very grateful that you even thought that far and went to such great lengths for me."

"Hn." He coughed, assembling himself back to his normal stoic self. "If that will be all, I'll leave you to it." Then turning on his heel, Sasuke took his leave, only to be pulled back a second later. Turning to look at the tiny hand that held onto the back of his cloak, Sasuke eyes followed to the owner of the said hand. With a single raised eyebrow, he asked, "Sakura?"

Casting her eyes downwards, she mumbled, "Will you return?"

"Aa." He said in response. Taking her hand in his, Sasuke told her, "I have a trial of punishment that I need to address. I will return soon after." Then pushing a familiar lavender into her palm, he closed his eyes, sending a pulse through her hand. Allowing her hand to return back to her side, he watched with satisfaction as the fluorescent lines grew and weaved around her body, lifting all the blood and bruises from her body.

Once more than half of her body was healed, Sasuke finally took his leave. Just as he disappeared around the corner though, he said with a smirk, "It would be rude to not have dinner with our lovely guest, no?"

.

After standing in her spot for a few more minutes and watching Sasuke's retreating back disappear into the darkness, Sakura swallowed and turned back to the door that he had left her at.

Hesitantly, she placed her hand on the brass handle, breathing in deeply. Before she could even brace herself for the entrance, someone on the other side had already pulled the double door open for her. Not expecting this, Sakura completely stumbled into the room, much to her embarrassment.

Immediately, a bunch of hands reached out for her and surprised exclaims sounded off in the room. As they attempted to get her back on her footing, strings off apologies escaped their lips as well as hers.

"O-oh, I'm sorry. I didn't know…" Sakura began, flushing red.

"No, no. Our apologies, Miss." One of the maids that she met from earlier countered, bowing heavily to her. As she did so, the others around her also followed suit, their apologies echoing throughout the room.

Unsure what to do with herself, Sakura simply shrunk back closer to the door, her hands getting clammy behind her back. Stuttering, she said, "Oh, you don't have to do that…"

Ignoring her comment, they continued to keep their heads bowed at her, which began to make her feel even more uncomfortable as the seconds passed. "Really, you don't have to do that… please stop."

"But Lord Sasuke insists that you are to be treated as such and nothing less."

Sighing internally, Sakura bit her lips. Of course it was Sasuke's instructions. She'll have to talk to him later about that. Wringing her hands together, she figured she'll just have to go along with what he had planned then, seeing how the maids were still in the same position.

"I heard that I can get cleaned up here…?" She questioned.

At her question, the maids stood back up and began crowding around her excitedly. "Oh yes, Miss. We've already prepared a bath for you. Would you like assistance or would you prefer your privacy? And would you like any flowers or essential oils for your bath? We have roses, lavender, apple blossom. Anything you wish, Miss."

Before she could even move to reply, another maid beside her asked, "Would you like anything to drink during your bath? Jasmine tea, red wine? Or how about finger foods or desserts? We heard that you have particular love for dangos."

"Oh, no. I'm okay. You don't have to prepare those things for me." Sakura replied back hastily, waving her hands in front of her frantically. "And I can do it on my own."

Nodding in understanding, maid that spoke up from before called for the rest of them to disband as she led Sakura to the room.

Following close behind her, the maid led her deeper into the room. Then pulling the white certain to the side, it revealed a stunning spa in the middle of the room. The size of the bath was enormous, it was what she would honestly consider as a hot tub. Even though she had not requested anything specific for her bath, the maids had gone out of their way and done it anyways. Steam came up from the water, making the room a little foggy and warm. There decorated upon the water's surface was an endless amount of blossoms and rose petals. Memorized by the beauty of it all, Sakura couldn't help but walk forward to the edge of the tub and dipping her fingers into the water. Just as she had expected the temperature of the water was the perfect level of warmth. Swirling her fingers around in the water, she cupped some of the flowers into her hand.

"Even though you didn't request it, Miss, I hope you don't mind that we went ahead and set it up for you. There's essential oils to your left, along with the hair products. Also our chef took it upon himself to whip you up some dangos, we hope it's all to your liking." The maid told her. Then taking a couple of steps back, she bowed at Sakura. And before leaving, she added politely, "If you need anything else, Miss, do not hesitate to call for us. We'll be right outside the door."

Sakura simply nodded in return, as she could barely form any words, still stunned from what was all prepared for her. Never in her life had she experience something as lavish as this. And she was sure that she would only continue to be amazed by acts like this as she stayed her.

* * *

Sasuke rounded the corner sharply, coming face to face with the guards posted at the doors of the Hall of Punishment. Acknowledging their presence, he didn't bother to wait a second longer for them to open the door for him as he walked up and threw them open himself. Striding into the hall, his eyes immediately narrowed at the kneeling figure in the center of the room. Just the sight of him stirred up the dormant anger that Sasuke had suppressed.

Taking his seat upon his chair, he looked down that the guard, displeasure cursoring through his body. With a subtle wave of his hand, Sasuke motioned the guard beside him to begin the trial. He listened with disinterest as the guard read off the infringement of the clauses and breach of oaths. When Sakura's name was mentioned briefly though, Sasuke stood up from his seat, cutting the guard off.

"I believe that is enough." He announced sternly, his words slicing through the air. "It has been made clear about what you have done wrong."

The hall remained silent.

Taking Kai's folder into his hands, Sasuke stated, "You are to be stripped of your title as a guard. And you will be exiled to the Ruins of Punishment. But I will not be that cruel and I will place you on the outskirts instead of the core. You are to reflect on your actions and within a year, you will be allowed to come for a request of redemption." Shutting the folder harshly, he handed it back to the guard.

Taking that as a sign that the trial was over the guards at the back moved to take away Kai, but Sasuke held his hand up, faltering their actions. Stepping down from his throne, he walked down the stair to where Kai was kneeling, head bowed, eyes towards the ground. It was pitiful.

"Let this be an example of what will happen if you disobey my orders." Sasuke warned. "In addition to this, I'm sure that most of you are well aware of our new guest. You are to treat her as my equal, nothing less. If I catch word of someone mistreating her, I will make it my priority to hand you a much worst punishment, with no chances at redemption." Eyeing each and every guard in the room, he even allowed his eyes to flicker red for second, to make sure that his point had gotten across. Turning to to leave, his cloak billowing behind him, he added, "The main castle has been notified of this. I expect that you all will pass on the message well."

* * *

Wrapping the towel tightly around her body, Sakura couldn't help but almost slap her forehead at her stupidity. She walked into this without preparing any clothes to wear afterwards. Glancing at the pile of ripped and dirty clothes at her feet, she frowned. She couldn't possibly wear the same clothes as earlier, that would have defeated the purpose of the whole bath situation. Highly embarrassed, she crept close to the door of the bathroom and knocked. "Hello?"

A voice responded back to her almost instantly, "Yes, Miss? Is everything okay?"

"Ummm, I guess…?" Sakura began, not really sure how to express herself in her current predicament.

"Miss, are you alright? You sound a little distressed…"

Well, that was because she _was_. Sakura sighed. Tightening the towel around her body, she cracked open the door a sliver, peeking her head out. "I didn't think to bring any clothes with me…"

As she had expected, they all laughed at her, furthering her embarrassment. Cowering back behind the door, she looked down at the ground, her cheeks burning.

The head maid giggled into her hand for a bit more before waving her off. "That is not to be a concern, Miss. Lord Sasuke has already made sure that that would not be an issue. Do not worry, Miss."

Confused, Sakura's brows furrowed at the maid's comment. Unsure of what to do, she carefully stepped out of the bathroom, holding on tight to her towel and she followed the maid. They came to a stop in front of what seemed like another set of doors. Just as she was about to open her mouth to question the situation, she found herself clamping it shut as her eyes grew in size at the sight that appeared before her.

What seemed like endless rows of clothes were hung with care behind the double doors. Everything she could possibly imagine or dream of wearing were nestled deep into the closet. Luxurious silks, ranging from the softest of whites to the darkest of black, with every color in between decorated her line of vision. Unable to resist, Sakura tentatively reached out and brushed her fingers across one of the silk fabrics. It felt heavenly. Truly fit for someone of a royal status, but definitely not her. As her eyes traveled down further, Sakura almost couldn't hold back the giggle that escaped her lips.

In a section of its own, there hung on the racks were the kind of clothes that she would expect; jeans, t shirts, leggins, sundresses. But when she ran her fingers over them though, she found that they weren't just anything she could have found in her closet at home. No, when she flipped over one of the price tags, Sakura nearly choked on thin air at the trailing zeros she saw.

Noticing her reaction the maid quickly said, "Lord Sasuke wasn't sure what would suit your needs, so we went ahead and prepared everything. And he would not accept anything less. Please do not feel too overwhelmed. Hopefully there's something that fits your taste, Miss."

"A little too late for that," Sakura mumbled quietly and as she continued to shift through clothes. "You guys sure do love being over the top around here…"

"Oh, no, Miss." The maid replied with a smile. "This is nothing compared to the _others_."

Not believing her ears, Sakura simply shrugged it off as she continued to flick through each garment in the closet. After a couple more minutes, Sakura sighed and looked back at the maid for help. "There's too much to choose from, can you choose for me?"

"Oh, of course! I thought you would never ask!" The maid clapped her hands together happily. "It would be my absolute pleasure to do so, Miss!" She then hurried called out for the rest of the crew to come and smiled. "Don't you worry Miss, we'll have you looking nothing less than perfect for your first dinner here."

.

By the time that the maids had dressed and groomed her to their level of satisfaction, Sakura could barely even recognize her own reflection.

They had scrubbed and polished her face to perfection, and then powdered it until it was seemingly flawless. Not a single pore in sight. They had combed and styled her long flower colored hair into a simple, tight chignon at the base of her neck with a gold Kanzashi through it to hold it in place. They also dusted both her lips and cheeks a soft rosy mauve.

Unable to resist herself, when they asked which article of clothing she wanted to wear, Sakura found herself reaching for the elegant pieces of silk. It was a sheer off the shoulder dress that pooled around her feet in ripples. Tiny, white embroidered flowers cascaded down the front of her dress, slowly disappearing. While they had thrown compliments after compliments at her, she couldn't help but still feel a little self conscious about what she wore. Thus, they gave her a matching cloak.

"Miss, you look absolutely stunning." The maid told her, eyes a light.

"Thank you…" she mumbled back shyly, her eyes still fixed on her reflection in wonder.

"Now that you're all set, I think that it's time for us to show you around. It would be highly inappropriate if we didn't." She told her before adding, "Oh and my apologies as well. I don't think I've introduced myself either." Bowing lowly at her, much to Sakura's discomfort, she said, "My name is Kalon and it is my pleasure to meet you Miss."

Stuttering, Sakura waved her off on the labels of pleasantries. "Please, you don't have to call me that. I'm simply a guest here."

"All the more to call you that, Miss." Kalon countered back with a smile. Raising a single brow, she questioned, "Or would you rather be addressed as Lady Sakura?"

Blanching at the increasingly formal title, Sakura shook her head. "Oh, gosh, no."

Seeing that her point was made, Kalon moved on to introduce her to the rest of the staff as they slowly made it out of the room. And one by one each of them bowed at her presence.

As they made it down the stairs, the maids began to lead her in the other direction but Sakura couldn't help herself as she strayed away from them as she took notice the greenery pathway out of the corner of her eyes. Upon a closer look, it finally came to her realization that it was a pathway to a outdoor garden. Eyes a wide, Sakura found herself stepping out into the soft, green grass. And the sight that she came to meet had her feeling breathless. Never in her wildest dreams would she have thought that a garden as lush as this could exist in a place that was called for the death.

Caressing her fingers across the leaves and petals of the plants, she couldn't help but smile brightly out of happiness. For some unknown reason, just being in the presences of greenery made her feel _alive_. Before she had met Sasori, she had kept a small mini garden in the back of her yard and tended to it everyday. It was the one thing that she would always look forward to after she got out from school or work. It was her baby. Each plant was showered with the utmost care and love. Not to think too highly of herself but Sakura would say she had a pretty green thumb. She had never had a single plant die on her, that is until Sasori killed them all with household cleaners. It nearly killed her when she saw what he had done to them. Ever since then, Sakura hadn't dipped her hands back into gardening again. Oh, how she missed it.

Just as she was about to reach out to smell some of the nearby flowers and voice spoke out to her, startling her in the process. "I wouldn't smell that one, it doesn't smell as good as it looks."

Hands flying to her chest, trying to calm her erratic heartbeat, Sakura flushed at being caught red handed. Looking up from the flowers, words of apologies were ready to escape but the sight that she came to meet with had her swallow her words back.

There standing in front of her was a gorgeous redhead, dressed stunningly is a matching red, strapless dress. Everything about her simply screamed perfection. She was so perfect that as Sakura couldn't help but continue to stand there like a deer struck by a pair of headlights, Sakura couldn't help but feel intimidated by her presence.

She watched as the redhead strut to where she was standing and surveyed her over, from head to toe. "So you're the new _guest_." Red lips pulling into a tiny smile, she said, "Well, welcome. We don't normally have visitors often here, if any. It's nice to meet you, I'm Karin."

Sakura watched stunned at the redhead's extended hand. Hesitantly, she extended her own hand too. "It's nice to meet you too… I'm Sakura."

"Fitting," Karin told her as she pointed to her rose colored strands. Then turning on her heels, she beckoned Sakura to follow her. "Come on, if you want to smell some good flowers, they're over here."

With no other option but to follow her, Sakura slowly moved from the spot that she was rooted in. Not even bothering to see if Sakura was following her or not, Karin began to make small talk with her. From the distance between them, she could barely hear anything that the redhead said. Walking briskly, Sakura attempted to catch up to her.

"So are you truly a _visitor_ or are you bound here, forever?" She asked very nonchalantly.

The question had taken her so off guard that Sakura stumbled over her own feet. Righting herself, she questioned, "I don't think I understand what you're asking…"

Raising a thin eyebrow at her, Karin repeated herself. "Are you a visitor or a prisoner? Those are really the only reasons that you could possibly be here. And usually it's the latter. This not a place anyone would want to visit, you know."

Unsure of how to answer her current situation, because she, herself, wasn't even sure what was even going on, Sakura simply threw the question back at her. "How about you?"

"Simple. I'm a prisoner, out of my own will."

"What?"

Turning around to face Sakura, she continued. "I choose to be here. No one forced me. I'm a nature nymph. And I'm sure you've heard of the stories about this place that those humans love to make so much about things they don't understand." Waving her hands around, she added, "I ate the forbidden fruit of this place willingly so that I can stay here."

"Why would you do such a thing?" Sakura was astonished.

"Because I love Sasuke. He wouldn't let me stay, so I took matters into my own hands." Karin shrugged as she continued walking deeper into the garden. "Love makes you do crazy things."

"You're insane."

"We're all a little crazy, and life's a little crazy too. And there's nothing wrong with it." Karin said. Coming to stop in front of a set of dark colored camellias, she pointed, "Now, these are the ones you'll want to smell. Aren't they beautiful?"

Ignoring how quickly Karin changed moods, Sakura focused on the batch of flowers in front of her. They were beautiful. Mixed among the dark camellias were also equally red garden roses and carnations. Bringing her nose to them, Sakura sighed blissfully at their wonderful scent, before asking, "You wouldn't mind if I picked a few for dinner would you?"

"No, by all means go for it." Karin waved her hands in dismissal. "They're not doing much purpose here always."

"Oh, don't be too loud. You'll hurt their feelings," Sakura laughed as she began picking them.

"Don't worry, I've said worst. They're used to it."

.

Karin watched with interest as the rosette picked her selection of flowers, the amount in her basket growing with every passing moment. It was a beautiful combination of dark oranges and reds, sprinkled in with some greenery. The girl definitely had an eye for flower arrangement. But what Karin also began to notice was the way the flowers moved towards her. Every time that she would stray away from them, they seemed to lean towards her even more. The flowers were more in bloom than usual. Glancing around, Karin has never seen so many in full bloom before. And she knew many of them were just budding the last time she checked. Surveying the girl with interest, Karin couldn't help but wonder, _where_ did she come from and _who_ is this girl.

* * *

When he came back to the main castle, Sasuke found her in the dining hall, standing in the middle of the room, arranging a bundle of flowers into a vase. And she looked absolutely stunning. Her white dress contrasted beautifully against the darkness that he called his home.

As he entered the room, some of the maids came to him, but raising his hand, he waved them off. Sakura was so attentive to the flowers that she didn't even notice his presence, yet. Sneaking up on her, he couldn't help but smirk as he said, "I see that you've found Karin's garden." Just as he had expected, the rosette jumped at his words, whipping her head up towards him.

"Oh, my goodness." Sakura breathed. "What is up with you people and scaring the daylights out of me?"

"You should be more _aware_ of your surroundings." He countered back. Coming close to her, he watched as she sighed and went back to her flower arrangement. After a couple of minutes, he asked, "Have you told the Head Chef what you want for dinner?"

Shaking her head, she said, "No." Then looking at him in embarrassment, she asked, "Was I supposed to?"

"Hn, if you want to actually have something to eat, I suppose." He smirked.

At his teasing, Sakura's face flushed red, her lips clamming shut into a thin line. Even more embarrassed, she flusteredly went back to the flowers in her hand. As she did so, Sasuke took this moment to look at her up closely. The maids had done an exquisite job, the makeup done simply, to highlighted her natural features, nothing too overly done. Her lashes were darken with mascara to emphasize her emerald eyes as her lips were dusted pink. Her rose colored locks were tied up, revealing her slender column neck. And that was his only complaint. Sasuke preferred her hair loose. The tight style that it was in was all too formal for Sakura and her nature.

Without much thought, he questioned her, "Did you ask the maids to do your hair in such a style?"

Confused by his trivial question, Sakura turned to look at him with knitted brows. "No, I did not."

"Do you like it?"

"I do, why? Do you not?"

He watched as she unconsciously reached up to touch her hair, her brows continue to knit further together, but this time with concern. As she did this, he couldn't help but beat her to it. In one fluid movement, he pulled on the ornament that held her hair together in place. Then he watched as her long, pink locks unraveled out of it's tight chignon and tumble over her shoulders freely. Reaching out to touch a strand of her hair, he looked at her, whispering, "I prefer it like this."

The level of intimacy that the moment held was almost too much for her to handle, Sakura could barely breathe as his gaze pinned her down.

Seeing the girl's internal state of distress, Sasuke figured that this would be about as far as he was going to take it with his teasing. Taking a step back from her and giving her some space, Sasuke laid the ornament on the table. Then turning on his feet, he walked towards the kitchen. When she made no move to follow after him, even when he was nearly out of the room, Sasuke called out for her. "Dinner's not going to order itself."

Sasuke heard a startled sound, then a long sigh, before a set of tiny shuffling feet grew louder behind him. As she came nearer, to when she was within his range, he began walking again, this time with a smirk decorating his lips.

* * *

 **{A/N}:** Hello, Hello~ Coming at you guys with another long chapter! So hopefully the wait was worth it and this chapter lives up to your expectations. Not all questions are answered yet, and it probably won't until later on~

Also thank you so much for the overwhelming love for this new story of mine! So many of you left reviews or even PM me your feelings. It makes me so happy to know that you all are thoroughly enjoying this story as much as I am writing it. I hope to see many of you again in either the review section or PMs

 **Thank you to: Lazie Bunny, ILoveSxS, jstasasusakufan, xmysteriousunknownx, Liz is bored, RansomeNote, SakuraDarkside, 7HeartAndSoul7, Fienna, MizuiroNeko, animedude16, Sakura Cheesecake, theselfproclaimedgreatest7, Fluttershy 2059123, Emily da great, Marsmallowa, Riela, thymoondragon, Kaguhana, Izzy, jesteeeyn, and multiple guest anons.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Smultronställe**

 **Chapter Three**

* * *

 _Just read, enjoy, have a good laugh or two. Have a tear slip here and there. Get mad at cliffhangers or late updates, and review. Even if it's just a one word review~_

* * *

"Is the food to your liking?" Sasuke asked her from across the table as he picked at piece of steak within in his bowl.

His question had caught her off guard.

With a mouth full with noodles, making a complete fool of herself, Sakura coughed off her embarrassment as she tried to swallow down the big bite. Flushing furiously, she avoided his amused gaze. After taking a sip of water to clear her throat and an attempt to brush aside her bad table manners, she squeaked out, "Yes, it is very delicious."

"Hn, I can tell." His tone was anything less than teasing. At Sakura's nearly permanently red face, he decided that he had done more than enough teasing comments for the night. Sasuke then switched the topic of the conversation, "I heard from the maids that you have already visited Karin's garden."

"Oh, yes!" At the mentioning of Karin's little garden, Sakura's eyes gleamed. Pushing aside her now empty bowl, she turned towards him and began talking eagerly. "Her garden is absolutely stunning. It's only something that I could only dream of."

"I take that you have an interest in gardening, then?"

"I love it. A couple years ago, I had a little small garden myself. Nothing as amazing as Karin's, but it was still one that I loved dearly." Smiling brightly, she added, "There honestly wasn't a day that I didn't tend to it. Quite silly of me, but I loved each and every one of those flowers as if it was my own children."

As she spoke of the flowers, Sasuke took notice of how her entire being lit up with happiness, eyes gleaming brighter as she waved her hands around animatedly during the conversation. Her tiny body could barely contain all the happiness that was emitting from her.

Taking this account, as he took a sip of his drink, he said, "If that's the case, there's a place that I would like to show you."

"Right now?" Sakura beamed at him excitedly.

"That is if you're finished."

"I am!"

With a wave of his hand, he motioned for the maids to clear the table as he got up from his seat. "I assume that the maids have also given you a tour of the room earlier today when they were getting you ready?" Sasuke asked.

"Oh, yes! It is very lovely and grandeur. I appreciate all that you've done for me very much. It was certainly not something that I was expecting..." She bowed her head bashfully, avoiding his intense gaze yet again.

At her words, Sasuke couldn't help but scoff in an amused manner. "Did you think that the room earlier was your room?"

Blinking owlishly, she lifted her head up. "... Well, I was under the assumption that it was…"

Dismissing her comment with a wave of his hand, he grunted, "That's nonsense. I would never allow a guest like you to reside in that small area." As he continued to walk down the corridor, he beckoned her to follow along.

Once Sakura took notice of her surroundings, she realized that they've been walking down the same corridor for a quite a while. The same dark marble floors underneath their feet has remained the same since they have left the dining hall. And every so often, a burning, gold torch would illuminate the way. Another thing that Sakura began to notice was that the further they walked, the less maids and servants she saw. It was as if the rest of the castle was vacant.

Just when Sakura couldn't keep track of how long these dark marble floors would continued to stretch on, they came to a stop before a grand staircase. It wounded around a pillar, before disappearing as it rose higher. Unlike the endless dark marble floors that Sakura has only seen since her stay at the castle, the stairs slowly faded from black to grey, and then completely to a white marble all together. It was breathtaking.

Stopping in his steps, Sasuke turned around to face the stunned rosette before him. Based on her facial expression and lack of words, he figured that it was to her liking… hopefully.

"I've already shown you my wing in the castle." He began. "Now, this is yours."

Sputtering, Sakura struggled to form her words in response. "Wait, I get my own wing?" Waving her hands before her, she shook her head. "Oh, that is not necessary. Just having a room in the castle is more than enough. Truly."

"It is necessary." Sasuke countered sternly. "Especially for you. I am unwilling to offer anything less to you." And with those words he knew that he had won the conversation. Sasuke then headed for the staircase. He listened as she hesitated for heartbeat, before scurrying after him, just as expected. Once she was by his side again, he added, "Do not feel burden for what I am offering. I only want to make your stay here as comfortable as possible. Do not hesitate to tell the maids if there is anything you need or want. I will make it a priority to get you what you desire."

"I'm sorry… this is just a lot to take in that's all…"

Shaking his head, he told her tenderly, "There is no need to apologize."

"I'll try not too…"

At her shy reply, he couldn't help but roll his eyes. She was way too modest for her own good. Sasuke knew that she would come out of her shell eventually as time passed. But he didn't think it would take this long. She was always this timid and afraid to speak out since the first time he met her, when she was five.

Usually not one to push the conversation forward, he made an exception for her, as he asked, "Is there anything else that you desire? If there is something on your mind, do tell."

"If that's the case," Sakura began quietly. Fidgeting with her fingers, Sakura averted her gaze downwards as she asked, "Can I get my own garden too?" The moment that the question had left her mouth, she hastily added, "It doesn't have to be as grand as Karin's. But just a small garden of my own is okay. I would really love and appreciate it..."

Chuckling at her child-like antics, he simply opened the door behind him and pushed her forward as he did so. Her nervous rambling ceased almost immediately as she marveled at the sight before her.

Unable to suppress her loud gasp, Sakura ran deeper into the room, leaving behind Sasuke at the door. Eyes wide, she took in her surroundings with a smile. She could barely believe her eyes at what she saw around her.

All around her, it was an explosion of color.

Burnt orange amaryllis and pink sedum covered nearly every inch of the garden. They stretched over the grass like a blanket, dotting it with splashes of color. Carefully mixed in with them were bright colored, dark center poppies. Burgundy and two toned plum Dahlias lined the outskirts of the garden, creating a dark safety border around everything. Soft pink camellias and ranunculus sprinkled themselves amongst all the other flowers as crawling blue morning glories hung above her head.

Crouching down to the ground, Sakura reached out and touched the vibrant, lush grass at her feet. As she ran her fingers through them, Sakura breathed in deeply, relishing in the fresh air that came into her lungs. Taking a look around her, Sakura couldn't help but smile once again at the sight.

There was no such thing too many flowers in Sakura's opinion. She could tend to them for hours on end and look at the same ones each day and not get tired of them. To her, each and every single one was a delicate bloom. Their petals were beautiful, colorful works of art and their hues were medicine for her soul. There was just something about them that she felt needed for her whole being; for her to feel alive. It was crazy talk to some, but it was true for her.

Head still in a daze, she whispered to him. "This is-…," unable to truly find the correct words to express her feelings, Sakura settled with, "Thank you, Sasuke."

A breath of silence came into between for a second before he told her, "There's something else that I want to show you as well."

"There's more?" Sakura asked, astonished.

He nodded. Reaching into his cloak, Sasuke carefully pulled out a tied silk bag. Asking her to extend her hand out to him, Sasuke placed it within her palm, urging her to open it.

Brows knitted together, Sakura tentatively pulled at the red string that held the contents of the bag together. As she did so, it revealed an iridescent, silver bud. Looking back up at Sasuke in curiosity, she said, "... I've never seen anything like this. What is it called?"

"It's a night blooming cereus. It is a flower, the only flower that is native to the Underworld and it only blooms at night under the light of the moon. Yuuna is its name."

"It only blooms at night?"

Sasuke nodded. Then taking the flower from her hand, he beckon her to follow him as they walked deeper into the garden. Once they reached what seemed like the center of the garden, Sasuke stretched out his palm. Sakura watched as a ray of silver light from the moon from above touched the bud. And ever so slowly, she watched with amazement as the bud bloomed, it's iridescent petals gleaming underneath the light.

"This garden is one of the few places that you can see the human world above." Sasuke began telling her as he handed the flower back to her. Pointing above him, he continued. "We can see them but they can't see us. I understand that my realm is not the most pleasant of places to live, so I hope that this place can give you a sense of being alive. Unfortunately, this is the best that I can offer in return for the life that you have lost. The human world is completely different from this."

Throat tight with overwhelming emotions, Sakura could barely speak. Instead she settled for a nod.

"As I said before, if there is a flower that you wish to have for your garden, let the maids know and I will get it for you."

.

There was something about her that made him breathe a little easier. But at the same time, it made his heart race a little faster.

With her rose colored hair and emerald eyes, she was a breath of fresh air to him in this suffocating realm of his. She was the light that he never knew that he needed in his life.

There was also no denying that she held a high level of beauty to her. But she wasn't just beautiful in her appearance. No, she was beautiful in all that she was.

She was beautiful in the way she smiled and eyes shined as she talked about the flowers.

She was beautiful in the way in the way her melodious laugh would fill the room with warmth when she found something funny.

She was beautiful in the way she gazed back at him there under the moonlight as if he wasn't the God of the Dead, but something more.

Her beauty was nothing that was temporary. No, it was something deeper within.

It had caught his eye that night so many years ago. She was ethereal to anything he had ever set his eyes upon. He had seen her darkest nights. But he has also seen her brightest days. And there was nothing more that he wanted to do but to protect her and cherish her in the ways that she deserved to be.

Because her existence makes him feel like he finally has a purpose.

* * *

Yawning, Sakura turned over onto her side, eyes blinking blearily. Eyes still encrusted with sleep, she rubbed them with the back of her palm. As she did so, her vision began to dance with little black dots before it finally cleared up. Eyes now open, Sakura became more aware of her surroundings.

She ran her hands over the cold, silk covers as she stared up at the white canopy of her bed. Brows furrowing, Sakura took a look from each side. Lips pursed and brows still knitted together, she slowly sat up in the bed. _Was this a dream?_

Because surely this wasn't her normal bedroom. Because for one, she did not have enough money to splurge on silk covers like this.

Closing her eyes, Sakura tried to remember what happened. As the memories came rushing back at her, the more she felt like it was dream. There was no way this was real.

"This has got to be dream…," she muttered to herself.

"Nope, not a dream." A voice answered back, scaring the wits out of her.

Heart racing, Sakura turned in the direction that she heard the voice. Eyes squinting to see who it was, she opened her mouth drily. "Who…"

"Long time, no see Sakura." Gaara waved back at her with a devilish grin, his red hair shining underneath the lights.

"Gaara?" She exclaimed. Sakura couldn't believe her eyes.

"Yes, that would be me. And you're Sakura. Thank you for the introduction." He replied back, sarcasm dripping from each word.

"Oh, my gosh! I haven't seen you in so long either!"

"Sorry. It's been a little busy around _here."_

"Sasuke doesn't give you a break, does he?"

Snorting, Gaara mumbled, "Of course not. Coming from a guy who never takes a break himself."

"You're both such workaholic."

"Being a demon is not easy work." He retorted, not before adding, "Not like you would know, _princess."_

Eyes narrowing on the nickname, Sakura asked huffily, "What's that's supposed to mean?"

"Or should I say, _Queen."_ Gaara laughed.

"Seriously, what is that supposed to mean?"

"Oh, come on, Sakura. You can not be that dense. It is the gossip of the century, _literally_ the century."

"Which is?"

Getting up from where he was resting, Gaara walked closer to the bed. Arms crossed, he stood in front of her with a knowing look. "You're the new queen that everyone has been waiting for." Then quietly he added, more to himself than anything, "Guess the Oracle was right after all…"

"Wait, what?" Sakura sputtered. "Me as queen? That's such an insane idea, I don't even know where it could possibly come from. Plus, isn't Karin like already… the queen?"

"Her?" Garra scoffed, completely offended. "Karin, as queen? What a joke. That obsessive nature nymph could never achieve such a status."

Taken aback by his clear dislike towards the other redhead, Sakura mumbled, "I didn't think that she was that bad…"

"Really? Because she is."

"And what do you mean by 'the Oracle'?"

"Ah." At the mentioning of what he had hoped she hadn't heard, Gaara quickly stood up straighter in his spot. Trying to not make eye contact with her, he said, "It's nothing for you to worry about."

"Which means it's something." She countered back at him.

"It might be better off that Sasuke tells you about it, than me."

Now it was her turn to cross her arms in defeat. Gaara had caught her there. Knowing Sasuke, he was not going to spill anything to her about it for sure. She would just have to find the answers on her own then. If Gaara couldn't tell her, Sakura was sure there's a least one other person in the castle that can.

* * *

The dress that the maids had hand picked for her today was a deep emerald, green floor length, wrap dress. It had a slightly less than modest v-neck, showing off her collar bone.

She watched in the reflection of the mirror as the maids placed the final touches on her french braid. Kalon tucked a couple more baby breaths into her hair and as she reached for the flowers laid out on the vanity, Sakura asked, "What is the Oracle?"

At her sudden question, Kalon hand stopped short of the carnation, frozen in mid-air. Eyes wide, the maid bowed her head, whispering, "Miss, you mustn't speak so frankly about that. It does not change anything, except make it worst."

"Make it worst?" Sakura frowned. What Kalon had said didn't ease up any of her confusion, but added more to it. "What do you mean?"

"My apologies, Miss. But it is not something that I should speak about. It would be better if you spoke with Lord Sasuke instead."

There is was again.

It seemed like everyone was avoiding the question and shoving the responsibility of explaining it to Sasuke.

Brows knitted together in absolute confusion, Sakura couldn't wrap her mind around why everyone was so secretive and tight lipped about this so called Oracle. It was as if it was a taboo subject, which didn't make any sense to her. Ever since the conversation that she had with Gaara that morning, she had been keeping a keen ear out for the mentioning of the Oracle amongst all of the gossip in the castle. And true to his words, she heard that name slip from the lips of the castle workers quite frequently. Yet, when she asks about it directly, they are all but mum.

If no one was going to let her in on the secret, she figured that she would have to search for the answer herself.

* * *

He had business to attend to, so Sasuke had missed out on having breakfast with her. It was late morning, almost midday when he had finally returned back to the castle. On the way in, he had caught sight of Gaara leaving, who had spotted him the same time he did.

With a curt bow, Gaara spoke, "She's all yours then."

"Hn." He thanked the demon.

Concerned that Sakura would not be able to adjust that quickly to her change in environment, Sasuke had sent Gaara in his place to protect her for the time being. There was no obvious danger that could harm her per say but he would rather play it safe for the time being as she's just slowly adjusting.

"I'm assume that there wasn't any trouble that rose while I was away?" Sasuke inquired.

"No, not quite." The redhead replied back with a slight shrug of his shoulders. But then taking a step closer, Gaara leaned in and whispered, "But you might want to keep an eye on her."

At the demon's suggestion, Sasuke frowned.

"Sakura is a curious one. It will be hard to keep her curiosity at bay and satisfied."

"And?"

"I'm afraid that I might have let the mentioning of the Oracle slip…"

Eyes narrowed, Sasuke growled, "Gaara. You know better than to mention such a thing to her."

"I know, I know. It slipped. Honestly I didn't think that she would have heard."

"You and I both know that Sakura is not dumb. She maybe quiet but she is not dumb. Like you said, she has a curious mind. She will pick up on everything that anyone says."

"Speaking of anyone," Gaara added. "You might want to watch out for the workers. They're gossiping a bit more than usual. And it's not just the normal gossip we've been hearing for decades. Words of the Oracle are spreading amongst them. And it is also stirring Sakura's curiosity."

After Gaara was finished, Sasuke pursed his lips together in a tight line. Sighing, he dismissed the redhead back to his post. As he watched the redhead disappear beyond the front gates of the castle, he ran a tired hand down his face.

Sasuke had known that words of the Oracle had been circulating amongst the people for a while, but with the arrival of Sakura, it had increased ten fold, and there was no stopping it. Then accounting for Sakura's curious nature, she would go around secretly asking about, which only adds more to the gossip.

Sighing, Sasuke would need to figure out a way to steer Sakura from that topic. It was too risky to let her dive deep into it at the moment. He'll explain more to her once the situation is stable because currently it was not. Her arrival and stay here was expected but at the same time it was not, especially with how she arrived here with a status of a Lost Soul.

After asking a passing worker where she was, Sasuke headed down the corridor to her wing of the castle. They had told him that she had left for the gardens after breakfast and have remained there ever since. And that was exactly where he had found her.

Stepping into the garden quietly, he dared not to make a sound as she was so immersed in grooming the flower in her hand. But once he edged closer to her, Sakura took him by surprise when she greeted him with a smile. "Welcome back."

Sasuke watched as she placed the flower back into the basket at her side before brushing her hands off and stood up. Eyes twinkling she said, "The maids said that you had some work to tend to."

"Hn, I did." He nodded. Tilting his head over to the flowers in the basket, he commented, "Sorry if I had disturbed you."

"Oh, not at all. I felt you coming, so I was prepared."

At her comment, Sasuke raised a single eyebrow. "You felt me coming?"

She nodded. "The moment you stepped onto the grass."

As she confirmed his question, he couldn't help but stare back at her quizzingly. She couldn't have possibly _feel_ that he was coming. For one, he was a God. Their steps are completely undetectable to humans, sometimes even the people of this world couldn't even hear him coming. Only great gods like himself could. Second, he was an Uchiha, they were known for their silent and quick movement. She couldn't possibly foresee his steps.

Brushing his own curiosity about the rosette in front of him to the side, Sasuke changed the topic as he said, "I can see that the garden is to your satisfaction. I've heard that you've spent the entire morning here after breakfast."

With a shy bob of her shoulders, she smiled. "It is my favorite place and the only place I truly know about. It's the only place I can reach without having to ask the maids for guidance."

"Hn, I see." Clearing his throat, Sasuke said, "I think that there's another place that you'll like as well."

"Oh, I don't think there's any other place that can top this garden." Sakura laughed, her eyes turning into little crescents as a smile decorated her lips.

"Challenge accepted." Sasuke quipped back smugly. He was sure that she was going to love the next place that he was about to show her.

.

As they came to a stop in front of a set of french double doors, he told her, "Now close your eyes."

Giggling, Sakura did as he instructed and closed her eyes. "This better blow me away if you're having me close my eyes like this."

"It will."

Taking her by her hands, Sasuke opened the doors to the room. Once she was standing in the center of the room, he let go of her hands, saying, "Open your eyes."

The moment that she opened her eyes, the sight that she came to meet with had her bring her hands to her mouth in shock. Time after time, this world of his has never failed to amaze her. If anything, it continues to her blow her away more and more each time. Turning on her heels, she took in the her whole surroundings.

Lined from the ceiling to floor and spanning across all the walls were endless rows of books. They were nested in antique gold shelves, stacked so high that there were sets of spiral stairs that led to them. There wasn't just one level but multiple, climbing all the way up.

She has never seen so many books in one place before. This scene before her put her university's library to shame. Sakura had thought that Konoha's University's libraries were the most beautiful ones she has ever seen, but they were nothing in comparison to this.

Stirring her out of her thoughts, Sasuke asked, "I'm assuming that it is to your liking?"

Spinning on her feet and without a second thought, she grasped his hand in hers, exclaiming, "Oh yes! It's so beautiful. I've never seen anything like this in my life." Then releasing his hand, Sakura ran towards the shelves of books with glee. "Where do you get all of these books?"

"Some of them have been with my family since the beginning. Others are from travels that I've collected, others are gifts I've received."

"Is this Latin?" Sakura gasped as she pulled a bound book from the shelf.

"Hn." He hummed in agreement. "This library is home to many languages. You can find the ones in Greek on the other side of the room. There's also Spanish, French, Chinese, and more. I've lost track over the years."

"Wait," Sakura paused in realization. Glancing all around her, she then excitedly exclaimed, "That means you have medical books as well?"

He nodded. Then pointing upwards, he said, "They're on the third level."

"Oh my gosh!" Hastily making her way towards the spiral staircase, she began running up the steps, eventually taking even two steps at a time.

As she reached the third floor, Sakura immediately went towards the walls. Even from afar, she recognized some of the book covers among them. She couldn't believe it. There lined perfectly in a row were the medical textbooks that she had used during college. There were even other versions and editions of it. This library really had everything.

"This is amazing!" She screamed out lastly as she couldn't contain her excitement any long.

From below, Sasuke simply shook his head at her childlike actions. Smirking, he shouted out to her, "Challenge passed?"

"Oh my gosh, yes!"

Crossing his arms, Sasuke smugly relished in his minor accomplishment. It wasn't like he hadn't expected her to not like it. Based on what he had seen during her time above, Sakura had a special interest in reading and learning everything that she could get her hands on. Especially things related to the human body and medicine. Whenever he was out searching for her in the world above, nine out of ten times, she was nested deep in the university's library. She loved that place. It was like her second home.

* * *

"My Lord…" The Grim Reaper began, his head bowed low. "If the time permits, there is something that I wish to speak to you about."

With a nod of his head, Sasuke motioned for him to continue on.

"I understand it is something that you do not wish to be spoken off, but Lady Sakura's soul… She signed a contract with you and agreed to sell her soul away, if I am not mistaken.."

Turning his head in the direction of the Reaper, Sasuke's lips pursed into a thin line. Slowly nodding his head, Sasuke hummed in agreement. As he flipped through another page in his hand, he questioned, "Yes. That was some time ago. But I do not see the reason for it to be a topic of our conversation today."

"I understand, My Lord. But...," The Grim Reaper paused hesitantly, unsure if he should voice his thoughts, for it would surely anger the deity before him. "Is there any chance, that you did not complete the transaction."

It didn't take more than a second for the words to even reach his ears that Sasuke abruptly snapped the book in his hand shut. Within seconds, Sasuke dematerialize and appeared right from his spot from across the room to directly right in front of the Grim Reaper. Voice low, and eyes narrowed, he said, "Are you suggesting that I, the God of the Underworld, Ultimate Ruler of all Souls, do not _know_ how to complete the process of collecting a soul?"

Immediately, the Grim Reaper bowed his head lower in shame. "My Lord, that is not what I meant entirely."

"Then what did you mean? Do tell, for I am about two seconds away from throwing you into the darkest pits of Tartarus for your questioning of my ability to do such a simple task."

"I mean no offense, My Lord." The Reaper countered, before reaching into the sleeve of his cloak and pulled out a white card. A death note. "But, ever since the day that you have saved Lady Sakura, I've been receiving this every day."

Eyebrows knitted together in confusion at what the Grim Reaper was getting at, Sasuke snatched the white card out of his hand. Flipping it over, his eyes ran over the contents of the cards.

 _Haruno Sakura. 24. Died January 5th. Time of Death: 4:08pm._

As he read the card in his hand again and again, it simply didn't make any sense. The 5th was _today._ Looking up from the card, he glared at the Grim Reaper before him. "I believe I instructed you to file her as a Lost Soul, am I correct?"

"Yes, you are not mistaken, My Lord. And it was signed off by no one other than you."

Holding the death note in between his index and middle finger, he questioned, "Then what is the meaning of this?"

"That was something that I hope you would have the answer to… Ever since that _incident,_ each day I've received the same death note, commands to collect her soul. The only thing that changes is simply the date."

"You've been receiving a death note for Sakura every day?"

"Yes, that is correct."

"That does not make any sense. This has never happened before with any Lost Soul case. Once it's signed off and closed, the death note should disappear." Sasuke thought out loud and he looked back down at the white card in his hand. "Not to mention, she has no soul to collect, period. I _have_ her soul."

Reaching into the collar of his cloak, Sasuke touched the chain that held the contents of her soul. Pulling it out from under his shirt, he looked at it. And there it was. Her vibrant soul confined into the pendant's orb, swirling with energy. Lips pursed into a thin line yet again, he clutched the pendant in his hand tightly. If what the Grim Reaper spoke about was true, then her soul must be still alive in order for him to receive a death note every day.

That still made no sense.

Sasuke was the one who personally sealed away and sign off on their transaction. And he was _never_ one to make a silly mistake as such, to only take half her soul? Impossible.

But the more he looked at the card in his hand, the less sure he was.

Could it be that some part of her soul was still intact with her body?

* * *

 **{A/N}:** Honestly this chapter was supposed to be a little longer and I'm not 100% satisfied with it. But if I keep on trying to edit it more, it may never get uploaded. So here is the long awaited chapter. Hope it is to your liking and Happy Valentine's Day everyone!

 **Thank you to: Wkt, Guest22, thymoondragon, ILoveSxS, brenda sianipar, animedude16, Marshmallow-fluff-23, arika518, lil'lovely, kazuyaryo, MademoiselleRED, chizuruyamamoto, infinitexlovee, 2Lazy2CreatAnAcc (Love this username by the way), Psycho-schlemiel, Harijime, cocoablossom, uchiha. sakura. 23, and multiple guest anons.**


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